Gentle Man: A Code Lyoko Fan Fiction
by ODROverdrive
Summary: A new transgender student at Kadic Science Academy befriends the Lyoko Warriors, and strange happenings come to at Kadic. A story by Ichigo Darkwing
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Kadic

**The following is a non-profit, fan fiction interpretation. Code Lyoko, and Code Lyoko Evolution are all owned by The Moonscoop Group, France 3, Canal J, Tania Palumbo, and Thomas Romain. Please support the official release.**

CHAPTER 1: Welcome to Kadic

STORY BY:Ichigo Darkwing

My heart was coming out of my ass right now. I've been trying to calm my nerves for six minutes. I haven't stepped out of my car yet; It always had the comforting smell of french vanilla coffee. I hope that I look okay. I'm wearing my new Hollister jeans, an old Metro Station shirt, my black Hollister hoodie (also new), a checkered belt, and my new all black Jordans. It makes me glad that I'm manager of the Men's Warehouse, that I work at. It's 8 AM. so I grabbed my beanie and my back pack from the passenger's side seat. I opened the door then closed it, put my beanie on, and slung my bag on my right shoulder as I walked to the entrance. I read the large, bronze sign that said "Kadic Science Academy." I took another deep breath and walked toward the building. There were diverse students everywhere I looked as I looked for the principals office.

Once I found it, I knocked. "Come in." said a voice from inside. I opened the door and stepped in to see a man close to his forties, 5'10'' (I was 5'11''), gray hair, beard, and moustache, brownish suit, and glasses. I cleared my throat. "Mr. Delmas?" He slightly nodded. "You must be our new student." "Yes." I said, extending my hand. "I'm Colt Lyndon." He smiled and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Colt. Please, sit." I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. He leaned on his desk a bit and said "I'm glad to have you here Colt and hope that you like Kadic. I am aware of your circumstances and I roomed you accordingly. Your belongings are already there." He reached into the drawer on his left, and spoke again. "Here is a pass to the specialty bathroom and I explained to out gym instructor, Jim, that you change last. So, anything you need to say before I give you your roster and your room key?" "I have a job at the Men's Warehouse. My hours are 4 PM to 11 PM, Monday to Thursday. I'll be back at my dorm late" "I'll explain it to our night guard and to Jim." He handed my my roster and my room key. "Good luck, Mr. Lyndon." I rose from my seat. "Thank you Mr. Delmas." I turned and walked to the entrance.

Everyone was still outside so that meant that class hasn't started yet. I walked back outside and looked around for a quiet place to sit. I found an empty bench under a tree and sat down. I guess I should talk about myself. I'm 17, crystal blue eyes, 5'10'', built, and I'm well mannered. I play every type of sport, I like to read, write, sing, play my guitar, play piano, and dress nice. My parents passed away when I was ten in a plane crash, left with my sister, who was eighteen then. She's been my guardian since and I lived with her until I transferred to Kadic. I went through...incidents at my old school, so it was recommended that I transfer out. Kadic is my fresh start.

As I sat with my iPod in my ears, I gazed at two different cliques. The first one a group of three: one girl and two boys. One boy was short, dressed like there were class pictures, with bad acne and big glasses. This other guy was taller than him, with blonde hair that was darker than mine with a blank stare at the girl of the group. She was the tallest of the three of them, with black, long hair, tight jeans, a v-neck belly shirt and sandals. She seemed to boss both of them around. I looked over at the second group. There were five in the group: three boys and two girls. The one boy had glasses, blonde hair like mine, probably 5'6'', and really scrawny. The other had light blonde hair with a purple streak in the middle, dressed in all purple, 5'7'' laughing loudly. The last guy was at least 5'9'', dark navy hair, broad shoulders, dark eyes, with a type of loner persona. The first girl was real short, small, a nice smile, pink hair, jumper/dress and boots were pink with pom poms. The second girl was beautiful... She was the same height as the guy with navy hair, maybe an inch shorter. She had hair that covered her neck, black heir, dark eyes, all black clothes except for the stars on her shirt, fair skin, and boots.

The bell rang for class so I grabbed my bag and filed in with the other students. My first class was math class. I walked in and everyone was already there. The teacher looked at me until I said I was new. He lightened up, turned to the class, and politely said "Good morning class. We have a new student." He looked back at me. "Please introduce yourself." "My name is Colt Lyndon. I'm a transfer from Shardon High." Everyone just stared at me. The teacher patted my back and said "Sit where there is an empty seat." I walked down the isle to look for a seat. One guy put his feel up, one girl put her books on the empty chair. I already felt rejected, but I was surprised at who waved me over to sit with them. It was the girl with the pink hair. She switched her seat and gave me the one she was sitting in. I sat down, scooted in and looked over at her. She smiled at me and I smiled back. "Nice to meet you. Welcome to Kadic. My name is Aelita Stones." I shook her hand. "Lovely name. Nice to meet you as well." I looked to her in wonder. "What is your room number?" "My room is 213." "You're my roommate." She smiled. "It'll be nice to have some company." I was having a nice day so far. Met a nice girl, who turned out to be my roommate.

As class went on, Aelita told me everyone's name in the group. The one with the glasses was Jeremie, the one with the purple streak in his hair was Odd, the loner guy was William, and the girl in all black was Yumi. Then she spoke about someone I hadn't seen, Ulrich. "Ulrich is a part of the group. He wasn't here today, because he was attending college credit courses." I gave her the look of wonder once again. "What's he like?" She laughed a bit. "He's Yumi's boyfriend, he's the school soccer star, a skilled martial artist, but..." she sighed before continuing her statement "...he's not the best with grades." She hit my arm lightly. "He'd like you. You're the type of guy to make friends with him easy." I laughed at the thought of what Ulrich would look like, but I still asked. "What does he look like?" "Oh!" She reached into her bag, pulled out her wallet, and opened it to a picture. She pointed to him. "There he is." I looked at where her small finger was. Ulrich was probably Yumi's height, a little shorter, dark brown hair, about my skin tone, slightly built, with dark eyes. He looked like a cool dude.

Class ended and Aelita said she's see me for lunch. I had my next class with Jeremie; He's the brightest one in Chemistry. My English class was with Odd; He can make anyone laugh. He showed me a picture of his fiancee and I saw his ring. I told his congratulations. I had my History class with Yumi; She was as nice as I thought she'd be. She looked nervous. "Is there something?" She played with her sleeve ends. "I'm just kinda anxious about tomorrow." "Because of Ulrich coming home?" She looked at me, wondering how I knew. "Aelita told me." She gave me a slight smile. "Yeah. I can't wait to see him, but there's another reason." "What's the matter?" Yumi sighed. "My younger sister is coming back to France to live with us." I looked at her, a bit shocked. "I didn't know you had a younger sister." "No one does yet. I was gonna tell them at lunch." I looked over at the clock. "We have five minutes. It'll be okay." She smiled at me. "Thanks Colt." "No problem."

The bell rang and Yumi took my arm as we walked to the lunchroom. The gang was already at their table lunch trays in front of them. Once we got our lunches, Yumi and I sat with everyone. Odd tried to speak, with his mouth full of chewed breadstick. "Hey Colt. Nice to see you've been added to the group." Aelita placed a finger under his chin and closed his mouth. "Chew, swallow, then speak Odd" William laughed. "You should tell him that more often, Aelita" Jeremie notice Yumi's arm wrapped around mine. "So Yumi, does Ulrich know about you and Colt?" he asked playfully. Yumi jokingly kicked his leg. "Oh cut it Jeremie. I have an announcement to make..." She clears her throat nervously, and everyone looked at her. "My sister is moving back to France, and is staying with me. She starts classes at Kadic tomorrow." Odd spits out his soda. "We didn't know you had a sister!" "No one asked. She left when she was six. She went back to Japan with my aunt and uncle because she was emotionally distressed in my parent's care." Aelita looked over at her. "How old is she?" "She's sixteen. She'll be seventeen in July." William grinned and looked at her. "What grade was she in?" "She'd be a junior with Colt, Odd, and Ulrich" Jeremie looked up. "What's her name?" "Yuki Lucinda Ishiyama." They all smiled and Odd said "That's a pretty name. What time will she be here?" "Her plane lands at six tonight." Aelita interjects. "And Ulrich's?" "Odd answered that one. "He called me during PE. His plane lands at 11." Yumi looks down. "I can't pick him up because I have to study." Jeremie spoke. "I'd pick him up, but I have no car." Odd interjected. "William, don't you have a car?" "It's at the shop. I got side swiped by a bus that ran a red light." Yumi looked upset. "It'd be too late to call a cab and the shuttle buses stop at ten." I looked at them. "I'll pick him up." William raised an eyebrow. "With what car?" "Mine. I've had a car since I was fourteen." Odd remembers something I told him in class. "Don't you have a job?" "Yeah, I get off at eleven and the airport from there is a half hour drive. All I need to know is where to pick him up from." Odd cheers. "Yeah! Three cheers for Colt!" Everyone at the table laughed with Odd.

Once lunch was over, we all went to our last period class. When I was dismissed, I showered and did my homework and headed to work. I clocked out then made my way to the airport. I parked outside the exit and waited for Ulrich to come out. Once I saw him, I waved him over and he came over to me. On the entire ride back, we were chatting as if we were brothers. Aelita was right; We just hit it off instantly. We arrived at Kadic and we were strolling to out rooms. When at his door, Ulrich laughed and said "Odd may have some competition." I scoffed. "Nah, Odd is all yours. Good night." I bumped his fist, we parted was, and I went to my room. I quietly stepped in so I wouldn't wake Aelita. I changed, laid in bed, and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Yuki

******The following is a non-profit, fan fiction interpretation. Code Lyoko, and Code Lyoko Evolution are all owned by The Moonscoop Group, France 3, Canal J, Tania Palumbo, and Thomas Romain. Please support the official release.**

CHAPTER 2: Yuki

STORY BY: Ichigo Darkwing

I woke up early so I could catch a shower...in the girls lockeroom. They reason why I had to leave my old school... I'm a transgender male. I've take hormone blockers since I was eleven so I never grew breasts or went through regular, female puberty. I have a flat, male-like chest, but never wanted the surgery to have male parts. It's why I was roomed with Aelita and not another guy. I was beaten almost everyday by the boys, and raped multiple times by both sexes. Eventually, I ended up in the hospital and the principal spoke to my sister about transferring. Now I'm here at Kadic. I've been in only one relationship and the girl knew my secret, but still loved me. She passed away later that year...

I came out of the shower, dried off, and put on my boxer shorts. I peeked out into the hall, making sure that no one was around. I closed the lockeroom door and walked down the hall, my towel over my wet hair. I closed my eyes as I dried my hair, then I bumped into someone. As I rubbed my head, I opened my eyes to see who I bumped into. It was the girl who wore the pink v neck shirt. I stood "I'm sorry miss..." I extended my hand to help her up, but she simply swatted my hand away. "I can get up myself!" She stood. "Boys are so rude!" "I said I was sorry. Are you hurt miss?" She stomped her foot, in anger. "Stop calling me miss! My name is Sissi!" I tried so desperately to calm her down. "Shhh. Stop yelling." "Hey! What's going on?" said a male voice from behind me. I turned to see Jim, a kind of round man, standing at 5'11'', short frilled hair with a headband, a red and black trimmed track jacket, black sweatpants stuffed in high socks and sneakers. "This guy pushed me over." said Sissi. I tried to defend myself. "Jim, I just got out from the showers and bumped Sissi by accident. I apologized and I tried to help her up." Jim turned to Sissi. "Is that true Sissi? Did Colt try to help you?" "Yes, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook. He was coming from the girls shower room." Jim raised his brow at me. "Is this true?" I shrugged, with nothing else to do. "I didn't know. I looked and it said showers. I didn't even know it was the girls room." Jim grunted a bit. "You're new, so I'll let this slide." He then turned to Sissi. "And Sissi, dont yell. It's too early to be disturbing the others." Sissi gave me a pouty scoff and shoved past me then I walked past Jim to get to my room.

When I rounded the corner, Aelita was standing halfway out the door, her large, pink pajama shirt sliding off the half of her that I could see. She rubbed her eyes, and asked "What was all the commotion about?" "I bumped into Sissi by accident and she was flipping out. I apologized to her and she still got mad." All she did was nod. "She used to throw her weight around at me since I came here. The principal is her father so she feels that the rules don't apply to her." I finally walked into our room and uttered. "She must have some serious issues with boys then." She closed the door, and flipped the light switch. "She goes out with Theo Gauthier, co-captain of the soccer team. Everyone wonders how he puts up with her." I peered through my closet. "Add me to the list." She laughed, and she started to gather her things. "I'm going to freshen up and shower. See you at breakfast, Colt." She opened the door and closed it behind her.

I picked out a pair of jeans from my job, a nice red short sleeve button up, a dockers belt and my red and black trim Jordans with black socks. Once I was dressed, I grabbed my wallet, room key, and cell phone. As I walked down the hallway, I called my sister, Miranda. She answered sleepily. "Hello?" I laughed. "Morning sis." She laughed as well. "Morning Colt. How'd you sleep?"

"I slept good."

"How's Kadic treating you?"

"Better that Shardon. I made friends already."

"That's good to hear bro. Where you headed to now?"

"To breakfast to meet up with my friends."

"How's the whole roommate thing?

"It's okay."

"What's she like?"

"She'd really nice, and super sweet. You just wanna pick her up and hug her."

"Do you like her?"

"Not really. She's more of a friend. She has a boyfriend anyway."

"Ah. Well, I'll let you go. Have a nice day."

"Thanks sis, I will. I love you."

"Love you too." She hung up.

I put my phone away, and walked into the cafeteria. I went to the line, grabbed my tray and got served with eggs, bacon, two pancakes, a biscuit with butter and a tall glass of grape juice. I saw that Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie were already at the table, as I sat down. I casually greeted them. Ulrich bumped my fist, and said "Morning Colt." Odd said "Hey buddy." with a mouthful of toast. Jeremie just plainly said "Good morning." "How's everyone?" I asked before taking a big bite of my pancake. Jeremie said "I stood up late analyzing some new virus scans for my computer." I had a feeling it would be computer related. Ulrich stated "I just got my new roster from the office. I have classes with Yumi. You, Odd and I have Phys Ed together." "Awesome." I replied optimistically. Odd was too busy eating to speak.

Ulrich stood up. "There's Yumi." I turned around to see Yumi and a girl that was as tall as Aelita following her. She had a head of blood red hair with black ends, pale skin, hazel eyes, wearing loose jeans, a red sweater with a grey shirt under it and red vans. She had a book in her arms as she came up to us with Yumi. Ulrich hugged Yumi then they kissed and pulled away, grinning. She backed up and took her sister's hand. "Guys, I want you to meet my sister, Yuki." She spoke with a light and shy voice, that was...angelic... "Hi everyone." Odd swallowed, and wiped his mouth. "Nice to meet you Yuki." Ulrich hugged her. "Nice to meet you." He slowly pulled away. Jeremie stood, and strolled on over to Yuki, then shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Any family member of Yumi's is our friend." She smile. "Thank you." I had to go the extra mile. I stood, took Yuki's hand and gently kissed it. "Lovely to officially meet you." I let her hand go, and I sat back down. Yuki blushed and turned to Yumi. "Who is this? You never mentioned anyone this polite." She laughed a little. "That's Colt, a transfer. He started yesterday." She looked to me. "Nice to meet you Colt." I smirked. "Likewise."

A few minutes passed, and Odd smiled and pointed towards the door. "There goes Aelita and William." Aelita walked up to hug Yumi then hugged Yuki. I could tell that Yuki was comfortable around Aelita. William smiled a bit and waved at Yumi then Yuki.

After all introductions, it was time to go outside before class. We all sat under a pavilion with two vending machines and just talked. Once the bell rang for class, Aelita left with me, Yumi left with Ulrich and Odd for art class, William has his arm around Yuki and they walked away together. Finally, Jeremie walked off with Aelita and I because our classes were in the same direction. He and Aelita held hands; I thought it was cute.

The day went on like it usually would. My last class was PE with William and Ulrich. After I changed, I went to my spot and Jim went in front of the class. "Alright class. Today was supposed to be basketball. But since we have an odd number of students, today we'll be sparring. Get into pairs and get your sear. The style of choice is boxing The student without a partner will pair with me." I looked around to try to find a partner. I was about to ask Ulrich, but William grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction. I pulled my arm away and he stopped. I looked at William. "What was that for?"

"I needed a partner."

"Asking would have been fine, but you didn't have to pull my arm off..." He laughed at my comment. "I didn't know you were so sensitive. Maybe you should have a female partner." "Shut up William." I glared and got into position. He laughed. "No gear? Alright." He got into position, and threw the first punch and he caught me in the chest. He got a few hits to my stomach before I threw my left hook. I caught his face and started to hit his body with a barrage of punches. I saw anger in his eyes and he kicked my ribs. This turned into a brawl. I tackled him to the ground and dealt punches left and right. He kicked me off of him and attacked me with some kicks. Before we could throw another, Ulrich and another boy held William back while Jim, two guys and an assistant teacher held me back. William had the nerve to laugh. "You got guts Colt. I'll give you that." Whatever Will." Jim looked to William. "Dunbar, the principal's office. Lyndon, you go to the infirmary." William was lead one way and Ulrich walked me the other way.

As we walked down the hall, we talked. "What'd he say to you?" I looked down. "He pulled me the other way before I could ask you to spar with me. He teased me and said I should have been paired with a girl." He patted my shoulder. "Will can say things and be reckless. Don't worry about him." We stopped in front of a door. "This is the infirmary." He waked away, and said from down the hall, "See you later." "Bye Ulrich." I sighed as I stared at the infirmary door. I opened the door and walked in...


	3. Chapter 3: Growing Pains

**The following is a non profit, fan fiction interpretation. Code Lyoko and Code Lyoko Evolution are both owned by The Moonscoop Group, France 3, Canal J, Tania Palumbo, and Thomas Ramain. Please support the official release.**

CHAPTER 3: Growing Pains

STORY BY: Ichigo Darkwing

It's been three weeks since I started at Kadic. It's a lot better than my first two years at Shardon. It was after classes, Aélita and I were walking back to our room when Sissi appeared in front of us with Herd (short guy with bad acne and glasses) and Nicholas (taller guy with dark blonde hair). Herb pushed up his glasses and uttered "Last time I checked, the boys' dorm was a floor down." Nicolas laughed on the side like he told a funny joke. "Or is there something going on?" I panicked inside, but I sure as hell am not letting them see it. "I was just walking Aélita to her room." I gave her a hug. "I'll see you later." I walked away, and off the grounds of the school, feeling defeated.

I got in my car and immediately called Yumi. She answered.

"Hello?"

"Yumi? It's Colt."

"What happened?"

"Sissi, Nicolas and Herb are onto me staying in Aélita's room. I have a bag of clothes, but nowhere to shower."

"There's a key under the welcome mat at the house. No one's home. You can shower there."

"Thank you Yumi. You're a life saver." she laughed. "I'll see you at the arcade." "Later" I drove off to Yumi's house.

I lifted the mat and found the spare key. After unlocking the door, I put the key back and stepped inside. I closed the door and I looked for the stairs. Once I found them, I went to the second floor and found the bathroom. I undressed and turned on the shower. Warm water through my hair as I sighed. So many memories to forget that were weighing on me. I was nervous about tonight. I was gonna tell Yuki that I had a crush on her. Hopefully she would agree to go on a date...

I shut off the water and stepped out onto my towel to dry off. I dressed up in some denim jeans, a gray thermal with three buttons with the top in undone, gray and black vans with a leather jacket. I packed up my stuff and headed downstairs to go back to my car. Then I heard two voices coming from the back of the house. I quickly peeked through the window to see Yuki and William, lips locked and arms wrapped around each other. My heart sank to my stomach and I felt my eyes burn. They pulled away from each other and I could hear them clearly. "This feels wrong..." Yuki said under her breath, looking down. William lifted her head with his hands. "Don't feel that way. We can stop whenever you want." She kissed him once more. "I don't want to... The thing is... How do I tell Yumi?" "We'll tell everyone." He smiled. "Tonight." She blushed and she smiled. "Okay." I had heard enough at this point. I stormed out and slammed the door behind me. I got into my car and stormed back to Kadic, Once there, I parked then made my way to the gym. It was completely empty inside just like hoped it would be. I went to a bench near a punching bag, and took off my jacket, sneakers, socks and shirt. I pulled out my iPod, put in my ear buds and went at the bag. All the questions I'd push away entered my mind. Would I ever have a normal life? Would a girl ever love me? Was I fooling myself and denying the obvious?

I finally fell to my knees, my tears blurring my sight, staring at my bruised and bloody knuckles. I couldn't let the pain out... I couldn't cry... All that came to me was tears. When I finally calmed down, I cleaned up, got redressed, and went back to my car. Before I could open my door, I heard Aélita call my name. I looked up to see Odd and Jérémie with her. Aélita came and hugged me, but held my large hands over her small ones when she saw the bandages over my knuckles. "What happened to your hands?" Odd scowled out of worry at my hands. "It looks like you were fighting a wall." I took both of Aélita's hands in mine one. "I'm fine princess. It's just some peeling skin when I fell on my hands earlier." Aélita smiled in assurance and we all piled into my car.

We drove to Digital World, and arcade not to far from Kadic. Odd took pride in having made the top three scores in most games. William, Yuki and Yumi arrived a half and hour later. We saw other Kadic students while we played games. After a few hours of games, we all headed to the lounge area to rest ourselves. We all ordered something to eat and chatted it up as we waited. I had finished my soda when I heard knocking on the table; William was the source. He cleared his throat, and he looked at Yuki smiling. "We have an announcement." She blushed and smiled ear to ear. "William and I are officially dating." Everyone clapped and was for the most part shocked by it. I felt a knot grow in my chest and my palm clenched the soda can in my hand. I could feel the aluminum dig into my hand but I couldn't stop squeezing the can. When Odd asked me to move so he could use the bathroom, I said I'd go with him.

We both got to the bathroom, Odd noticed the can still clenched in my hand. He gave me a puzzled look. "Colt, what's with the can? You've been holding it for a while." He extended his hand towards me. "Give it here." I looked down at my hand. "Um..." He chuckled. "So stubborn." He tried to take the can. "Let the can go." He took it and he saw blood upon it. "What the...?" He saw my blood soaked hand. "Oh god..." I hid my hand behind my back, and hung my head in shame. "Sorry..." He gave me a worried look. "Are you gonna be okay?" I nodded. "I'll be fine. You go to the bathroom, and I'll clean my hand." He turned and went to the urinal as I put my hand under warm water. I wrapped my hand as Odd washed his and we made our way back. Right as we sat back with the group, our orders came. As we ate, Yumi glanced to see my bandage had covered my palm. I said nothing and kept eating. I wished Ulrich had come. Jim got sick so he volunteered to teach the Friday night martial arts class. When I finished eating, I excused myself so I could call my sister. The phone rang, eventually going to voicemail. I ended the call and walked back into the arcade, my head kind of down.

When I finally looked up, I could see William and Yuki, leaning against a machine kissing. My heart sank again as I went back to the table, with only Yumi sitting there. I pointed down to the adjacent seat. "Is this seat taken?" Yumi smirked. "No." she patted the seat. "Sit down." I sat down. "Where'd Odd, Aélita and Jérémie go?" "Jérémie and Aélita went to the photo booth to take some pictures. Odd saw his fiancee so they left together." "Feel left out?" "A little bit." She looked at me. "You?" I nodded. "Yeah. I've only been in one relationship." "Ulrich was my first." She sighed. "What happened to her?" "She passed away..." She patted my back. "What happened?"

"She suffered from heart failure... She was fourteen..."

"I'm sorry..." I patted her head. "It's okay." I looked at her smiling. "Thanks for listening." She smiled back. "No problem. I'm always here if you need me." "Good to know." Jérémie and Aélita came back to the table, their faces red, and their hair a little messy. I glanced at Yumi and we both smiled. "Looks like Mr. and Mrs. Einstein had some fun." She said jokingly and Jérémie blushed. "We deserve our fun..." He looked around. "Where's Yuki and William?" Right at that moment, Yumi pulled out her phone and her face changed to frustration. I took the phone from her hand and it read

"Yumi, I left with William, and we went back to Kadic. I'm staying the night in his room. I'll be sure to watch out for G.I. Jim. See you tomorrow at Mass with Mom and Dad

~Yuki"

"She always does this... Then my parents are on my case..." Yumi said, then she sighed and looked at the time. "We should go. It's 11:12 pm and curfew is 11:30." We split the bill four ways, and drove to Yumi's to drop her off.

I parked and Aélita, Jérémie and I headed to our rooms. Aélita was tired so I carried her to our room. Before we could go inside, Jim flagged me down. "Colt...I need to talk to you." He looked at Aélita. "Privately." "Okay." I unlocked the door. "I'll be with you in a moment." I carried her in and laid her in her bed. She sat up. "What could it be about?" I shrugged. "I'm not sure." I headed to the doorway. "Don't wait up. Get some rest princess." I quietly shut the door and followed Jim to Delmas' office. As we entered, Delmas' face was stressed and worried. He sighed before he spoke. "Good evening Colt... I wish you were here on better terms..."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's about your sister." My heart jumped and I panicked for a second. "Miranda?" I stood. "What happened?!" Jim put his hand on my shoulder. "Settle down Colt." Delmas sighed deeply and uttered words that shattered me... "Someone set fire to her house..." I was horrified. "No..." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry son... She didn't make it out..." In a fit of rage, I flipped over his desk. "NO!" I cried louder than I ever had... "Di...did she go quickly...?" He nodded. "Yes, she died in her sleep. The fire didn't kill her... It was the Carbon Monoxide... You have to plan the service..." I sighed. "I will." I picked up his desk, and put some of his things back on it. "Forgive me..." He stopped me. "It's alright son. You belong to the school now, and we'll take." I nodded. "Yes sir." I walked out into the hallway. "Good night." I walked back to my room in a daze, closing the door behind me. Aélita sat up in bed, turning the lamp on that was on her nightstand. "What happened?" I lost all strength, and collapsed to my knees before her. "My sister's dead..." "Oh god..." I gushed tears... "She's gone..." She pulled me into her bed and held me... "Shhh... I got you." She whispered in my ear, with a soft, angelic, almost motherly tone. "You're not alone." All I could do is cry in Aélita's arms. My sister was gone...


End file.
